STORY: Kenyan president hails establishment of AfCFTA policy and development center
SHOOTING TIME: Nov. 7, 2023
DATELINE: Nov. 9, 2023
LENGTH: 0:04:06
LOCATION: Nairobi
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Kenyan President William Ruto during the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) policy and development center
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): WILLIAM RUTO, Kenyan President
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): WAMKELE MENE, Secretary-general of the AfCFTA Secretariat
4. various of the AfCFTA headquarters

STORYLINE:

Kenyan President William Ruto has hailed the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) policy and development center as a watershed moment in the continent's transformation into an economic powerhouse.

Ruto made such remarks during the launch of the center on Tuesday at Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): WILLIAM RUTO, Kenyan President
"As we embark on this journey, it is essential to acknowledge and keenly examine and attend to the challenges that lie ahead. To begin with, we must tackle issues related to infrastructure development, regulatory harmonization, human capital development, and facilitation of cross-border trade. According to the African Development Bank, Africa needs to invest between 130-170 billion dollars annually for the infrastructure for the next decade. This center will need to figure out how this is going to happen, what levers to use, what instruments will come into play so that we can attain these targets. The AfCFTA will serve as a catalyst for this investment, since improved transport, energy and digital connectivity will significantly reduce trade costs and naturally enhance efficiency."

The AfCFTA is the flagship program of Agenda 2063 of the African Union designed to boost intra-African trade in goods and services. The agreement covers 55 members with a population of 1.4 billion people with an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of more than 3.4 trillion U.S. dollars.

According to the secretary-general of the AfCFTA Secretariat, trade ministers are negotiating a protocol on digital trade.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): WAMKELE MENE, Secretary-general of the AfCFTA Secretariat
"The ministers of trade are currently negotiating a protocol on digital trade. That protocol on digital trade will provide the regulatory framework, the legal framework, the market access for digitization of the African market as well as establish the requisite digital infrastructure to ensure that millions of young Africans at the cutting-edge of digital innovation that they have a platform to support their work."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Nairobi.
(XHTV)